There’ll be a lot more than fried food-on-a-stick to sample this weekend at Fall for Greenville. Many of the nearly 50 vendors are serving up the most popular dishes from their restaurants, and some newcomers to the festival are showing off their chops with Southern favorites.
The highlights:
On a Roll
American Burger Company’s Firecracker Slider debuted on the Fourth of July, but it’s a safe bet it’ll be popular year-round. It’s smothered in Penny’s Jalapeño Pimento Cheese and in-house chipotle ranch.
Re:fuel by Aloft is offering up a roasted Norfolk turkey and cornbread stuffing hoagie with housemade cranberry aioli. As the staff is referring to it, “We stuffed Thanksgiving between the buns!”
Fall for Greenville first-timers the Bottle Cap Group, owners of Ink N Ivy and Brazwells, are also bringing a pimento cheese slider to the festival. It’s an Angus beef burger, topped with house-made pimento cheese and applewood smoked bacon on a brioche bun with a pickle on top.
Roost’s bacon-wrapped chow chow dog is a foot-long beef frank, wrapped in bacon and cooked until crisp, then nestled in a bun and topped with bourbon-braised baked bean beef chili, house-made chow chow and shredded cheddar cheese.
Roost is also offering a pulled pork biscuit using house-smoked, pulled pork barbecue stuffed in a buttermilk biscuit, topped with dill chips and drizzled with Alabama white BBQ sauce – made with Duke’s mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, horseradish and cayenne.
Robinos Food Truck is featuring spicy meatballs topped with a homemade red roasted pepper-butternut cheese sauce and served on a crispy baguette.
Also worth checking out are Tupelo Honey Café’s pulled pork pimento cheese biscuit, The Trappe Door’s lamburger sliders and Highway 301’s porchetta sandwich.
Southern Style
The Bottle Cap Group is paying homage to its Southern roots with crispy seasoned green tomatoes topped with a homemade herbed cream cheese and a roasted red pepper jam.
Larkin’s on the River is bringing the heat with a sriracha and smoked bacon mac-n-cheese. Roost’s twist on the Southern classic is a smoked adobo pepper-pimento macaroni and cheese.
Soby’s learned one year that leaving its signature crab cake with sweet corn maque choux and BBQ shrimp and grits off the menu was a major disappointment to guests, so those dishes have become festival standards ever since.
The Trappe Door is jumping on the pimento cheese bandwagon with croquettes served with green tomato ketchup.
South of the Border
Greenville loves tacos, and there will be plenty of options.
Papi’s Tacos is serving up Papi’s Travelin’ Taco – a Frito’s bag full of shredded chicken, lettuce, cheese, pico de gallo, sour cream – and slow-cooked pork carnitas tacos with cilantro and onions on soft corn tortillas.
Tirado’s Empanadas and More brings Puerto Rican favorites bacalaitos – a fried codfish fritter flavored with garlic and cilantro – and their top-selling beef empanadas.
Fonda Rosalindas is offering tradition lamb tacos and their signature dish, pork and pineapple tacos that was awarded second place in the 2013 silver spoon competition.
Meat in the Middle
Beef and pork abound in non-sandwich form.
Larkin’s on the River will be serving its Angus beef filet bites over whipped potatoes with a sweet pepper and onion demi glaze.
Meat’n in the Middle’s citrus-cola pork loin is a boneless pork loin sliced, then grilled and then diced and simmered in Coke, orange juice, fresh lime juice, toasted Cinnamon, diced jalapeños and a few roasted peppers. The pork medallions are served on a bed of cilantro-lime rice and topped with black beans.
Lighten Up
Get those veggies in with a Southern veggie bowl from Tupelo Honey Café or The Trappe Door’s beet salad with goat cheese and basil vinaigrette.
Happy + Hale will be serving a quinoa bowl with black beans, veggies and red pepper vinaigrette and avocado toast with red pepper flakes, olive oil, capers and sriracha,
Robinos Food Truck changes the ingredients for its chicken orzo pasta according to what is locally available, but so far, it looks like tomatoes, artichokes, peppers and a balsamic herb vinaigrette will make the cut.
Just Desserts
Having dozens of dessert options is always a highlight of the weekend.
Aloft Re:fuel is serving the hotel’s WXYZ Lounge signature dessert house-made Dark Corner Whisky cake, served with a dollop of vanilla bean ice cream, drizzled with a house-made whisky caramel sauce.
Robinos Food Truck showcases local peaches and recently harvested apples in its peach and apple cheesecake bread pudding with grand marnier sauce.
Roost ‘s Peanut Butter Cup Brownie starts with pastry chef Arelis’ gooey, chocolatey brownie mix with crushed and crumbled Reese’s cups folded in before baking.
Soby’s White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie has been on the menu since the restaurant opened in 1997, and it’s always a hit with Fall for Greenville guests too.
Drink Up
Along with traditional sweet tea and lemonade, some restaurants are pouring different options to cool off.
The staff at Re:fuel refers to its cranberry apple cider punch as “autumn in a glass.” Local apple cider is mixed with fresh cranberries, a touch of ginger ale and cinnamon and garnished with rosemary. Served chilled over ice.
Saffron Indian Cuisine is offering mango lassi, a traditional Indian drink often used for cooling off after eating spicy food. Lassi is a blend of yogurt, water, spices and sometimes, fruit.
Fonda Rosalinda has served its Mexican spiced tea at Fall for Greenville since 2004. It is a light sweet tea with cinnamon notes.
Roost’s mint julep sweet tea sno-cone features sweetened black and mint tea reduced to a syrup, combined with fresh lemon and drizzled over shaved ice.
